Saunas have been manufactured and sold on the market for many years. Saunas can employ a variety of heat sources, all with the object of warming a person's body in order to create sweat. The sweating process has several health benefits such as increasing the heart rate, blood circulation, calorie consumption, and the release of toxins.
Phototherapy, or light therapy, is a newer science that has developed in particular in respects to the treatment of Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD). Phototherapy was found to be highly effective in the treatment for SAD, or seasonal affective disorder, as well as effective for re-tuning the biological time clock, alleviating stress and creating endorphins for mood enhancement. In addition, more recent research has indicated that light therapy addressed to the body as a whole in conjunction with heat therapy to the body increases the beneficial aspects of both.
Until this point, no one has yet addressed the need or found a way to provide full body phototherapy and heat therapy in a comfortable, pleasant and affordable manner. This invention is in response to that current need.
A search of sauna patents yield none that are concerned with phototherapy. U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,145 to Katsuyoshi (1989) concerns itself with the combination of combustion heat and infrared heat to a sauna. U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,073 to Popovich (1997) relates to a portable sauna of tubular metal and a thermal shield.
A search of phototherapy patents is a little more helpful. U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,719 to Lopex-Claros (1996) indicates a method of delivering phototherapy to the eyes via a mask. U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,527 to Waldman (1995) indicates a method of delivering phototherapy to the eyes via a table lamp apparatus.
No patents indicate phototherapy to the entire body as well as the eyes. Recent research indicates that the beneficial light therapy as also absorbed by the skin. U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,578 by Sybaritic, Inc. (1997) makes some attempt to combine heat and phototherapy. The phototherapy is concerned however, only with the person's eyes. The person's head is covered with a stationary hood which is in turn attached with the bed frame. The bed frame is encased in a covering that delivers heat. The user will not receive the benefits of full body light therapy. In addition the user will be forced to lie still in a bed, with his head encased in a hood while flashing lights pass in front of his eyes. The hood and bed apparatus limit the user's mobility, makes him unaware and not in control of his surroundings, deprives him of full body light therapy and makes him unable to do other activities such as reading. This type of therapy could be claustrophobic and limiting to the extent that the user would not be very eager to employ it.